Studies show that this is the week that resolutions are most likely to falter/fail. I’m here to tell you that’s BS. Theres no reason why any resolution should fail now or ever. You have 49 weeks left in the year - if you’ve fallen behind there’s miles of runway to get back on track. This year I have taken a scatter fire approach to my resolutions, for a few reasons.

A year is a long time. As I’ve seen firsthand, things happen that might alter your trajectory or your priorities may change. Some resolutions may get dropped, some may get added. Starting with a wide base and honing in your focus as the year progresses ensures you feel like you’ve accomplished something a year from now.

Defining yourself too narrowly is troubling, if not downright boring.

I’m ambitious about what I can achieve in a year.

Already I’ve made progress on a few resolutions.

Halfironman PR

I’ve started swimming at the YMCA again and signed up for a duathlon (Run, Bike, Run) in March. Since the brutal winter temps have kept me off the bike, I've been hitting the road more often to run. 27 miles run, 7:53 avg. pace per mile.

Bianchi frame, all campy parts...I have an Italian fetish

Rebuild an old bike.

This is a carryover project from 2014. I started by collecting parts and an old frame in September, the frame is going to the painter this week. This project will get more attention in a blog post of its own once back from the painter along with tons of pictures. It's a late-80's or early-90's Bianchi frame along with all Campagnolo vintage components. If I have as much fun putting the bike together as I had hunting for parts on eBay, this project will probably end up being my favorite of the year.

Read more books.

This has been a resolution of mine for the past few years with varying degrees of success. Two year ago I read 21 books, mostly Non-fiction. Last year, I wanted to read 30 and only ended up with 9, mostly Fiction. I have trouble finishing books (must be ADD) so I left a few half-read. This year, I’m not putting a number on it, but I’d like to finish the books I’ve started and read more high-quality books. So I will continue to track the number of books I’ve read, as well as total pages to account for finishing my backlogged books. One book down already...

This is a fantastic book written by one of the founders of PayPal and original investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel. It’s a quick read at 195 pages, but it’s packed with tons of insights for anyone looking to start their own business or just have an understanding of what it takes to create successful businesses in the future. The title derives from the authors concept that creating for the future does not mean copying those who've come before us (as he calls it "going from 1 to n" ) but rather to ask yourself "what valuable company is nobody building?" and create that. This moves us from 0 to 1 in the world.

Learn Frameworks/Languages/APIs and Swift

This is probably my most ambitious resolution of 2015. Give me a 70 mile race and I’ll be done with it in less than 6 hours. Give me a coding project, and I’ll tear my hair out within the hour.

I’ve been using a great product called One Month, which promises to teach you specific coding skills in under a month through video tutorials and walkthroughs. In fact, with what I learned last year about Ruby on Rails, I was able to create a resolution tracking app (see right).

Anyone looking to learn basic coding skills like HTML or Javascript to learning major concepts around Growth Hacking and User Experience Design, I would highly recommend it. Check out One Month!

Be Empirically Skeptical

For those who had read the first blog post, unfortunately it was accidentally deleted. The Cliff Notes version is that I refuse to believe what others say is good/bad for me until I’ve tested it on myself.

As an example, last year I took up Gluten Free for 6 weeks at the suggestion of my dad (we both suffer from similar congestion issues and he said it helped him). It ended up clearing my sinuses, helped me sleep better, and I lost a ton of fat really quickly. For that reason, I will now shun everyone who tells Gluten Free is a farce because only 1 of 133 people suffer from Celiac. Yes, one good reason to not eat gluten would be if it tears apart your digestive tract, but it’s not the ONLY reason not t.

My next idea to test will be Bulletproof Coffee. In short this is your morning coffee, mixed with butter and coconut oil. It’s supposed to make you feel fuller and more energized. Lots of people are calling it hogwash, but I intend to find out if it works for me. Lets call it One Week Bulletproof. I need to first procure the ingredients...

Cook 2 new meals a month

This one came out a resolution I made last year to try 2 new restaurants per month. I was tired of eating at the same places and living in New York City there is no shortage of good food. I still have that resolution, but I also wanted to expand my own cooking repertoire. I have to say I’ve gotten off to a great start, and I have the photos to prove it. This really is turning into a photography project…